Chelsea are coming around to the idea that they will be without Romelu Lukaku next season as the Belgian striker nears a return to Italy.
The Blues are prepared to send Lukaku out on loan next season, with former club Inter prepared to take back the forward that they sold for £97.5million last summer. The 29-year-old finished his first season back in the Premier League as Chelsea’s top goalscorer with 15 goals in all competitions but this was an underwhelming contribution given his transfer fee and pedigree.
He is now keen to leave London after just a single season back in England and is reportedly ready to take a pay cut to ensure he can get out, with Chelsea currently in negotiations with Inter about sending him out on loan.
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And according to La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Inter could even make the deal sweeter for Chelsea by helping them out with one of their own problem areas in the transfer market and giving them a chance to sign defender Denzel Dumfries as part of the deal to bring Lukaku back to the San Siro.
Inter value Dumfries at around £40million but could let him go for less if it meant securing Lukaku’s return. And it seems both clubs are eager to get the deal done sooner rather than later, with the same report suggesting that Lukaku will be undergoing his Inter medical as soon as next week.
Signing Dumfries in return would go some way towards solving some of the issues going on at the back for Chelsea, with the club seeing both experienced players Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen leaving the club following the expiry of their contracts. The future of Cesar Azpilicueta is also in the air, with the Spaniard having not yet confirmed whether he will stay at Stamford Bridge for another season or potentially join Barcelona.
If he does leave, it means Thomas Tuchel would have lost three hugely important members of his team in one window, with defensive reinforcements now high up on the German coach’s list of priorities in the summer transfer window. Dumfries - who Inter signed for £10m from PSV last summer - is capable of playing at right-back or wing-back and has 35 caps for the Netherlands national team.
Dumfries could immediately help soften the blow of the departing Chelsea players and ensure Tuchel has cover in a key area. The Blues lost both Reece James and Ben Chilwell to injury last season which hugely hampered their campaign on all fronts, leaving them understrength and struggling to put in the consistent high-performance levels set by Tuchel.
